Was she meant to be the original Yeoman for the new series? I'm glad they hired Grace Lee Whitney instead but why wasn't Smith kept on?
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JB
WNMHGB image
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"There's a man . . . ON THE SAUCER!!"Maybe she just looked out and saw this:
Well obviously but like the other crew members she wasn't really given the chance!
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JB
I'm sure they looked at the finished pilot and decided that certain actors made an impression and some didn't. Andrea Dromm was really just there. She was sweet and pretty, but Grace Lee Whitney was stunning, almost burlesque like and her personality resonated the moment she stepped on screen. Roddenberry probably felt she exuded sex appeal and she did. She was also a really good actor. I wish she had more to do in the series.
Paul Fix was a good actor, but not outstanding. I like him as a performer, but there's no spark. He's too old for what became a breakout role. Lloyd Haynes was also a good actor, but Nichelle had a glow about her. If anything, Paul Carr would have been a nice regular, but the poor bastard got the strangulation. Honestly, the one actor who really sold the episode? Shatner. His magnetic performance blows everyone off the screen. You could have recast everyone else and I would have watched it every week. Even if they dropped Nimoy - whom I loved but Shatner was the guy I gravitated towards.
Paul Fix was a good actor, but not outstanding. I like him as a performer, but there's no spark. He's too old for what became a breakout role. Lloyd Haynes was also a good actor, but Nichelle had a glow about her. If anything, Paul Carr would have been a nice regular, but the poor bastard got the strangulation. Honestly, the one actor who really sold the episode? Shatner. His magnetic performance blows everyone off the screen. You could have recast everyone else and I would have watched it every week. Even if they dropped Nimoy - whom I loved but Shatner was the guy I gravitated towards.
I agree, I think GLW was really good in Star Trek and she was my first crush, lol. Strangely enough every other thing I've seen here in other than Star Trek, she has not been a good actor at all. It's so strange to me how she could be so good in only one show and really bad in every other.
Agree 100% with this. Shatner hit a grand slam in this episode, as if he had already been playing Kirk for years. Gene and Leonard Nimoy still weren’t quite sure about what the Spock character should be at this point, and it shows.
I also agree with this; in fact throughout the entire series I felt like Shatner raised the performance of the other actors as well (see comment in post #26)
According to Herb Solow from ‘Inside Star Trek’, Roddenberry told him he just hired Andrea Dromm because GR wanted to score with her.
I just watched Balance of Terror for the umpteeth time last night and Shatner's layered performance, filled with self-doubt and sadness, along with his required toughness is just amazing to watch. He and Mark Lenard were the standouts, but here, after weeks of being the lead and having the most load to carry, Shatner gives one of his strongest performances. I loved this version of Kirk. Before he became a more standard 60's TV hero, this was one of the last times we saw GR's original conception of him.
Yep, the picture on the cover of the promotional brochure comes from a publicity photo. But it depicts a tense scene in the episode:
LOL!
But seriously, the items that are in Shatner's and Dromm's hands are from the case that the crewman on the right at this link is carrying. Dromm is holding the handle strap and Shatner is holding it's contents. It's evident from the original photo (but not really from the cover of the promotional brochure) that the body of the case that that crewman is carrying is tucked under Shatner's right arm.
Btw, out-of-universe, Shatner is holding gas cylinders.
LOL!
But seriously, the items that are in Shatner's and Dromm's hands are from the case that the crewman on the right at this link is carrying. Dromm is holding the handle strap and Shatner is holding it's contents. It's evident from the original photo (but not really from the cover of the promotional brochure) that the body of the case that that crewman is carrying is tucked under Shatner's right arm.
Btw, out-of-universe, Shatner is holding gas cylinders.
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She looks more excited than terrified.
Yeah, I think it's this more than anything. The "Jones/Name's Smith, sir" exchange is pretty lame, and Dromm wasn't given anything else to play. Same with Lloyd Haynes and Paul Fix. According to Star Trek Script Search, Alden had all of three lines in WNMHGB, and Dr. Piper had eight. None of them really give much in the way of character.
I thought that Paul Carr did a good job with what he had, though. According to my search, the character of Lee Kelso had 16 lines in WNMHGB (more than twice what Scotty had!), and Carr managed to give Lee an actual personality during his scene with Gary Mitchell in sickbay. I wouldn't have minded if his character had stuck around.
I quite liked Yeoman Colt in "The Cage," too. It would've been interesting to see what Laurel Goodwin could've done with the part if she'd had a chance to play it on a regular basis.
Yes I've heard that one before and I'm guessing that Dromm refused his advances and that's why she was not in the rest of season one or much else...
JB
She was also in an episode of The Outer Limits in 1963 with Robert Fortier called The Controlled Experiment!
JB
Barry Morse starred in the episode as well before he started chasing innocent Doctors and plotting black suns and space warps for runaway moons!
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JB
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